Finding our place in the solar system : the scientific story of the Copernican revolution
Timberlake, Todd Keene, 1973-2019
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Finding our Place in the Solar System gives a detailed account of how the Earth was displaced from its traditional position at the center of the universe to be recognized as one of several planets orbiting the Sun under the influence of a universal gravitational force. The transition from the ancient geocentric worldview to a modern understanding of planetary motion, often called the Copernican Revolution, is one of the great intellectual achievements of humankind. This book provides a deep yet accessible explanation of the scientific disputes over our place in the solar system and the work of the great scientists who helped settle them. Readers will come away knowing not just that the Earth orbits the Sun, but why we believe that it does so. The Copernican Revolution also provides an excellent case study of what science is and how it works.
Main title:
Finding our place in the solar system : the scientific story of the Copernican revolution / by Todd Timberlake (Berry College, Georgia), Paul Wallace (Agnes Scott College, Decatur Georgia).
Author:
Imprint:
Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Collation:
xvii, 378 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 355-364) and index.
Contents:
Machine generated contents note: 1.Introduction: mysterious skies -- 1.1.Three mysteries -- 1.2.Why should you read this book? -- 1.3.The nature of science -- 1.4.Changing knowledge -- 2.Two spheres: modeling the heavens and the Earth -- 2.1.Watching the stars -- 2.2.Tracking the Sun -- 2.3.Around the Earth -- 2.4.Precession: a third sphere -- 2.5.Reflections on science -- 3.Wanderers: the Moon and the planets -- 3.1.The ever-changing Moon -- 3.2.Eclipses: hiding the Sun and Moon -- 3.3.Solar and lunar distances -- 3.4.The wandering stars -- 3.5.Reflections on science -- 4.An Earth-centered cosmos: astronomy and cosmology from Eudoxus to Regiomontanus -- 4.1.Spheres within spheres -- 4.2.Ancient Greek cosmology: Plato and Aristotle -- 4.3.Heavenly circles and predictive astronomy -- 4.4.Astronomy and cosmology after Ptolemy -- 4.5.Reflections on science (and history of science) -- 5.Moving the Earth: the revolutions of Copernicus --Contents note continued: 5.1.On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres -- 5.2.Copernican planetary theory -- 5.3.The order of the heavens -- 5.4.Problems and purpose -- 5.5.Reflections on science -- 6.Instruments of reform: Tycho's restoration of observational astronomy -- 6.1.The reception of De revolutionibus -- 6.2.The noble astronomer -- 6.3.Breaking the spheres -- 6.4.Stars against Copernicus -- 6.5.The Tychonic system -- 6.6.Reflections on science -- 7.Physical causes: Kepler's new astronomy -- 7.1.The secret of the universe -- 7.2.A new astronomy from physical causes -- 7.3.The war on Mars -- 7.4.The harmony of the world -- 7.5.Reflections on science -- 8.Seeing beyond Aristotle: Galileo's controversies -- 8.1.Message from the stars -- 8.2.Many controversies -- 8.3.Moving beyond Aristotle -- 8.4.Astronomy after Galileo -- 8.5.Reflections on science -- 9.The system of the world: Newton's universal physics -- 9.1.Curious characters: Newton and Hooke --Contents note continued: 9.2.Letters between rivals -- 9.3.The Principia: Books I and II -- 9.4.The Principia: Book III -- 9.5.Reflections on science -- 10.Confirming Copernicus: evidence for Earth's motions -- 10.1.Evidence for Earth's orbit -- 10.2.Evidence for Earth's rotation -- 10.3.Loose ends -- 10.4.Reviewing the revolution -- 10.5.Reflections on science: why did it take so long? -- Appendix Mathematical details -- A.1.Angular measure -- A.2.Apparent diameter -- A.3.Trigonometry -- A.4.Finding the Sun's altitude from shadows -- A.5.Relative distances of Sun and Moon -- A.6.Parallax and distance -- A.7.Ptolemy: size of an inferior planet's epicycle -- A.8.Ptolemy: size of a superior planet's epicycle -- A.9.Copernicus: the orbital period of an inferior planet -- A.10.Copernicus: the orbital period of a superior planet -- A.11.Copernicus: the size of an inferior planet's orbit -- A.12.Copernicus: the size of a superior planet's orbit --Contents note continued: A.13.Kepler: the ellipse and area laws -- A.14.Kepler: the harmonic law -- A.15.Galileo: measuring mountains on the Moon -- A.16.Galileo: falling bodies and projectiles -- A.17.Newton: gravity and the Moon -- A.18.Newton: an inverse-square force on the planets -- A.19.Newton: universal gravitation -- A.20.Bradley: aberration of starlight.
ISBN:
9781107182295 (hardback)
Dewey class:
521
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
371679
More Information:
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penrith | Nonfiction | 521 FIN | Available |